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Today's News

This weekend, we have the opportunity to pay tribute to those special men and women who have sacrificed for the rest of us by serving in the military.

As we observe Memorial Day on Monday, we will be reminded of the ways those courageous individuals have placed our well-being above their own comfort and safety. In some cases, they actually laid down their life as a sacrifice to keep our nation free.

It's a monumental debt that we owe. But it's one that all too often we forget.

A year ago this week, a Michigan-based group told Vandalia officials and local residents that they expected the construction of a $300-million sports and entertainment complex to be under way by this spring.

A year later, city officials are still waiting for officials from that group to return a number of phone calls and e-mails.

A few days after University of Illinois Extension announced a new administrative structure, the local Extension director said the public won’t notice many differences at the local office.

In response to cuts in state funding, U of I Extension put together a new map designating how local Extension programs will be administered. The state’s current fiscal year ends in June, and Extension has yet to receive any state funds for this fiscal year.

Katie Carson’s winning essay for the “Patriot’s Pen” contest, which is held every year by the Brownstown Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9770, went on to win the District 12 competition.

Katie, the daughter of Duane and Tammy Carson, is an eighth-grader at Brownstown Junior High School. She said that her writing was partially inspired by the return home from the service of a friend, Travis.

“The town escorted him home and had an appreciation party for him,” she said.

Aunt Dorothy had been widowed for a number of years when she met great-uncle Wilbur Meyer at a Primitive Baptist Association meeting.

Wilbur was 78 at the time, and also widowed. The two hit it off, and a year later they were married.

Before her retirement, Aunt Dorothy worked as a licensed practical nurse in Granite City. While living there, she became interested in dolls and doll repair. Many china head dolls became display items once again after Aunt Dorothy rebuilt their bodies and sewed new clothes.

As area high school seniors prepare to close out their high school days, we offer our congratulations – and we urge them on to even greater accomplishments.

Graduating from high school is a great thing, a milestone to be celebrated. Along the way, many area students have distinguished themselves in the classroom, as well as by excelling in extracurricular activities and in the athletic arena. Those activities produce learning opportunities that can’t be duplicated in the classroom.

“Does America Still Have Heroes?” was the intriguing question asked, and answered, by Brownstown High School senior Connor Smith in the essay he wrote for the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ annual “Voice of Democracy” student contest.

Connor’s entry won the local award presented by the Brownstown VFW Post 9770.

The 18-year-old son of Stan and Lana Smith is a member of this year’s graduating class at Brownstown High School.